Oregon Premiere

Sam’s wordless world is in sharp contrast to the fellow residents of her group home, who chatter constantly and question everything. Sam finds it difficult to communicate and retreats into a world of her own, surrounded by nature, and humming with the wind. She avoids contact with others, except for her caregiver Lydia, a charismatic young woman, who suddenly goes missing. When violent events occur that she can’t fully grasp, she’s forced to step out of her insular existence. Not a film about a group home from the outside, this is a story told through the distorted prism of Sam’s consciousness and we live the journey with her. We only know what she knows, and we feel what she feels as this coming-of-age tale unfolds in a heightened and surreal atmosphere.

Director’s Statement: Luigi Campi

Sam is a young nonverbal woman with a magical understanding of the world around her. Sam explores her world, falls in love, rises to bliss, spirals into fear, and the most exciting place to be is inside her head. As the film came together, every element—casting, locations, rehearsals—was asking us to create a magical world as experienced by Sam. Shot on MiniDV with an illustrated book look, the lm’s vibrant colors paint a fairytale-like world in which Sam’s quest unravels as a fable of trauma and discovery.